Chart of the Day: Travel Sector finds earned & owned media like organic search and email marketing the most effective for gaining new customers.
We all know customers don't like ads, and have got especially good at ignoring them or blocking them when they're online. Now this is really starting to filter through into the channels driving results online - Organic is rated as more effective than Paid Search or Affiliate marketing, at least when it comes to acquisition for travel brands.
The travel industry involves single big-ticket purchases - with customers only occasionally engaging in repeat business. This makes it very different to many other industries, especially FMCG, where it's low margins and repeat purchases that are the name of the game. Therefore I'd be very wary about applying these findings outside of the travel industry. But the implications for travel brands are clear - invest in exceptional content to build organic…
Knowing if you’ve got a successful retail SEO campaign all starts with picking the right metrics
With a wealth of information at your fingertips in Google Analytics, how do you determine what the key performance indicators (KPIs) are for your website? Everyone wants to demonstrate the value of organic campaigns but since the cruel and unusual punishment of the removal of the organic keyword conversion report in Google Analytics to be replaced by the opaque 'not-provided', it can seem difficult to measure the impact of all the hard work although the improved Search Console-Google Analytics integration does help. Before we dive into the KPIs, it’s important to remember a few things when you’re pulling data out of Google Analytics and drawing conclusions from this…
What is data without human interpretation?
As with any quantitative data you get the what but not the why. Human interpretation of this data is where the…
Which are the best options to increase reach for online retail sites?
The answers to these key questions for online retailers are revealed in the Custora Ecommerce Pulse which summarises online retail sales sources by channel.
Although retailers will know their current mix of traffic which is driving sales, it's always useful to benchmark this mix against others. This chart gives the latest data from 2016 to inform your strategy into 2017. If you are under-performing in some channels, this benchmark enables you to compare to see what is possible.
If you apply the 70-20-10 rule, this chart shows that 70% of your effort should go into the 3 main channels or organic search, paid search or CPC and Email marketing. Affiliate marketing is also important.
When interpreting this source, it's worth remembering that these stats don't show traffic…
Radio isn't dead. Don't make the mistake of writing it off.
The importance of omnichannel marketing is an ever increasing reality for high street retailers to succeed. Online-only retailers are starting to see the benefit of having physical locations to serve their customer in the real world, this year has already seen Amazon opening its own high street bookshops. As consumers across the globe demand more from every retailer big or small, our shopping habits are changing and the internet has opened a new always-on world, where if we want it, we want it and nothing else will do.
Retailers are wising up new customer experiences and implementing real digital transformation change across their business's, to give their customers the choice they desire, to buy online or in-store for home delivery or store pick up, but the marketing departments still have work to do, to prioritise their marketing activities across the whole customer lifecycle.
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Just because Penguin constantly updates, doesn't mean you can throw out the disavow file
When taking to the familiar waters of the social media swimming pool this morning, instead of enjoying my relaxed, smooth, exercise regime, I was met by the sound of shrieking and splashing from the children’s pool of Twitter. Upon investigating, I see there is a lively debate about the implications of disavow in the fallout of Penguin 4.0.
The main topic for the heated discussion? With the new incarnation of Penguin and its constantly refreshing live scrutiny when it is evaluating domains and URLs, is the presence of a disavow file even necessary for your business going forward? There are arguments both for and against this, there are those who are of the inclination that complete and utter removal of the disavow file is in their best interests as Google Penguin 4.0 algorithm is only doing minor devaluing…
We asked top SEO experts about how they see the implications of Google's announcement of a separate mobile index
Gary Illyes, a Google webmaster trends analyst, announced this month in a keynote on Google's search plans at Pubcon, Las Vegas that rather than its current single index for all sites, Google will run two indexes in parallel. One will be for informing mobile search results, the other desktop, but the mobile one will be the primary database and will be updated more regularly.
It's a big, bold move from Google, and there's no doubting it will have a huge affect on SEO, with the possibility of a big divergence between mobile and desktop search results. For marketers the implications will be less instant, as they'll take longer to filter through. But that is no reason for complacency. A change in rankings one day is a change in sales the next, and…
Direct traffic is a great indicator of brand strength - marketers should consider its use as a KPI
How a brand drives its traffic in the online arena is one of the most important things for any digital marketer to know. These traffic drivers can be divided broadly into these 7 segments
Direct
Mail
Referrals
Social
Organic Search
Paid Search
Display Ads
Each has its own implication on a brand’s online presence however for the scope of this article we will focus on Direct Traffic vs. Various Search metrics.
Direct Traffic is when a consumer directly types in the name of a brand’s website in the address bar.
Search Traffic is when a consumer is looking for information about a brand and its services/products via a search engine or directly inputting the name of the brand or its product/service, in a search engine.
Before we begin it is worth mentioning that a lot of the…
How the the Multichannel Majority varies between different sectors
Our mobile marketing statistics summary shows how mobile use has increased such that it now exceeds desktop use in many categories. Following the lead of Google and others, you now often hear marketers and designers talking about adopting a Mobile-first design approach when upgrading their websites. Many responsive designs are led by the mobile experience. This often leads to a simplified design approach which is positive for users and conversion. I was recently working on a consulting project in the insurance sector and it was interesting to see how insurance comparison sites like Money Supermarket, Confused.com and the AA have all adopted a mobile-first design philosophy with simplified designs and reduced copy.
While this is positive, I've chosen today's Chart of the Day to show that it is an over-simplification. The reality is that while smartphone use is overwhelmingly popular for some…
Don't mess with Google
The competition for a top spot in the Google search results is as competitive as ever. Companies spend millions of dollars annually to try and rank at the top spot for competitive keywords. There is good reason for that type of spending. Ranking first in Google results in 33% of all traffic from that keyword. Many high profile companies have taken a rank-at-all-cost mentality to clawing their way up to the top of the Google search rankings. These companies have tried, and failed, to gain an unfair advantage and have paid the price with a Google Penalty on their website.
Major companies like The Washington Post, WordPress, BBC, BMW, Mozilla, Genius, eBay, The Home Depot and even Google itself have been penalized by Google for violations of their guidelines. Digital Third Coast, a digital marketing agency located in Chicago, has compiled a list of high profile companies have…
Facebook advertising is traditionally best for B2C marketers, but now B2B marketers can get in on the action.
Move over B2C marketers, the B2B crowd is coming to Facebook advertising, and they’re ready to play hardball!
Traditionally, Facebook advertising has been somewhat useless to B2B marketers. It’s a great tool for B2C marketers, who can offer discounts, promote sales and retarget buyers who have left items in their carts through adverts on Facebook, but these tactics don’t always work for the B2B crowd.
When it comes to advertising, B2C and B2B marketers have different goals in the back of their minds. B2B marketers are out to:
Generate increased knowledge and awareness of a product or service. You can create buyer personas to help you better understand who you’re targeting.
Reach out to a company advisors, decision-makers and others involved in a…
